Bardem turns in a performance that prompts thorough praise even though the film has accrued mixed critical reaction.The scruff-faced star talked at length on the travails of making this film in Barcelona's tough immigrant neighborhoods.

With the deeply soulful performance by Javier Bardem in the central role, director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has created a story that captures the human dilemma at both its most simple and its most complex.